Aloha! What's going on here?

Hi Friends!  Welcome to my blog.  I am your host, Lauren Bertschy.  :)
I'd like to spend a moment (ok, several moments) introducing myself and this blog and why you should read it!

Who am I? 
Here are some adjectives that describe me: enthusiastic, curious, excitable, bold, cheerful, inquisitive.  I'm the kind of person who wears their heart on their sleeve.  I love learning and exploring.  I have a (not-so)secret love affair with the Science Channel.  I loooove National Geographic in all its forms.  My favorite podcast is "Stuff You Should Know".  My favorite website is catalogliving.net. 

I live in Chicago with my boyfriend, Nick.  We met in college.  I wouldn't have passed my classes without him.  We were best friends, then we graduated... and we've been dating since.  We have a calico cat, named Kiwi, who I adore.

I'm currently a graduate student at Northwestern, studying Learning & Organizational Change.  What does that mean?  Well, so much.  You can visit the MSLOC website to get more information.  But here are some of the classes I'm taking, that are pretty representative of my experiences: Leading with Strategic Thinking, Creating and Sharing Knowledge, Designing Sustainable Strategic Change, and Leadership in Organizations.  And that leads me to my next question...

Why am I writing this blog?
... My experiences have made me start to see the world differently - which is good and bad.  Bad, because it can be super annoying to ALWAYS be wondering about new stuff (it's exhausting!); and good, because it creates new opportunities to think about the world around me.  It's a new year - today is Jan 12, 2011.  I'm ready to start a new chapter - and for me, that means being more disciplined about all these thoughts running rampant through my brain.  I need a way to talk about all these things without annoying the people around me!  So maybe when you read this you'll start to see the world differently.  Or maybe I'll ask you a question that will change your perspectives.  And that leads me to my next question...

What can you expect from this blog?
...You can expect a lot of "thinking" questions.  Probably a little silliness and ridiculous things too.  But most of the time, I plan to write about how we experience change, learning, and knowledge sharing every day.  What can we learn from thinking about these things more critically?  How can we use it in the workplace and our personal lives?  Are there some interesting articles or things we should read to better understand what's going on? 

I will probably ask you questions, in the hopes that you will help me continue to see the world differently. 

And I'll probably write about once a week.  That's my goal, anyway.

And I PROMISE to be honest and open.